Surprise! I'm in Cincinnati - Saturday

Remember that surprise vacation I mentioned earlier this week?  It was a super deal on a plane ticket to Cincinnati with the conditions that I fly out on Saturday and return on Monday or Tuesday.  Thankfully my boss is awesome and obliged when I asked for the day off.

 

Saturday was more of an adventure than it needed to be but I appreciate my neighbor's support nonetheless.

• 7am is when I woke up and got ready.
• 8am is when my neighbor (thank you!) insisted on *picking me up* for a 920am flight.  I was not thrilled.
  
• 820am I arrived at the airport and every security checkpoint was packed with weekend flyers who don't know what they're doing.  (I told you we needed to get here earlier.)  There's one checkpoint with a Black Diamond lane.  Luckily I know where that checkpoint is and how to work the black diamond lane.  Sadly, it's also the only checkpoint with body scanners instead of metal detectors.  Whatever, I need to make my flight.  It's time to compromise.
• 840am or so I made it through security and walked back to the correct side of the airport.  Still faster than waiting in the other lines.  I went to find my gate and saw the "this tram is out of service" message.  Fine; I'll walk the half-mile to my gate. ::Shaking my head::  It is almost a half mile; someone measured it because there was drama over why we needed a tram to begin with.
• 920am flight boards on time and eventually arrives early in Cincinnati.
• What I learned from this:  Lie to Gib about what time my flight is so he gets me to the airport with enough time that I don't have a heart attack running through security and sprinting to my gate.  And thank you for waking up early and taking me.  I hope the move is going well.

 Just a PSA for those of you traveling through CVG. 

When I got into town our first stop was Skyline.  Duh.  Once I was properly fed, I took a nap. 

I'd planned on going out for a run.  But the 20 mph winds discouraged even this Minnesota girl from heading out.  Instead I made up my own little circuit training routine, just with exercises I could remember from the classes, and did that in my parents basement for 60 minutes.  Some of my exercises included Burpees from the devil, alligator pushups (similarly from the devil), cross-overs, jumping jacks, and all kinds of other good stuff.  I worked up quite a sweat and it was ultimately a great workout.  And I'm happy I only have to do it once.

A friend of the family invited us to see a movie at the Omnixmax.  Rocky Mountain Express was, um, okay.  But clearly not photographed (cinematography?) by someone who'd had experience with the Omnimax film format.  Like, the screen is five stories tall.  Macro shots are not needed.  And wide shots of a long trail look silly because the train is curved on the curved screen.   I also got to see a friend I'd worked with before I moved to Minnesota.

After the movie we hit the Bangkok Bistro for dinner.  One of my other Cincinnati favorites. And then I went to bed thinking of the inescapable "long" run the next morning.